Wednesday night racing was no breeze

SAILING

September 09, 1993|By NANCY NOYES

It hasn't been a good year for Wednesday night racing off Annapolis, but that hasn't discouraged the competitors.

During the separately scored first half of the Annapolis Yacht Club's Wednesday Night Series, several of the scheduled races were abandoned or called off because of little or no wind. Another race was hit with a violent thunderstorm but, nonetheless, was finished by 17 boats.

For many sailors, it was a controversial move. They said the host club was encouraging a certain amount of irresponsibility by racing sailors. Others pointed to one of the most fundamental rules of sail racing -- that it is the responsibility of each skipper to determine whether to start, or to continue racing.

When the second half opened on July 14, racing was called off due to strong thunderstorm warnings -- and a stuck Eastport Bridge, which kept many of the would-be competitors upstream and away from the course.

The following week's racing was called off on the water after the wind died, leaving six races remaining on the agenda for the half. Those six, however, did finish, even when they turned into light-air ghosters.

FTC For J/30 class winner Steve Bardelman and his crew on Valhalla, it was the last race of the series, on Sept. 1, which counted -- getting the gun on the last night of the series bumped them up from third overall to first.

Bardelman said his start, headed downwind down the river to the turning marks, was not very good in the evening's light air.

"The wind never fills in in the middle," he said, "so we went hard left. The wind filled in over there, I caught a breeze, and went around everybody."

Having established a front position on his fleet, on the way back upriver toward the turning mark into Spa Creek, Bardelman said he got into a match-race tacking duel with Bill Rutsch and his team on BeBop along the Bay Ridge side of the course.

"They were ahead, they had gotten the best of me," Bardelman said, "but then they tacked away. We caught a breeze and left them in a hole, and beat them over the finish line by about five minutes."

Some interesting changes were put in place for the second half, including introduction of a long-requested Catalina 27 one-design class, and a new set of PHRF splits, resulting in three classes instead of the two in the first half.

These changes might effect the overall series trophies and awards later in the year, because the classes did not stay consistent.